International Journal of Research in Engineering and Applied Sciences

Visually impaired make the use of touch as a sensorial substitute to perform a task on the mode. According to normative technics of the International Paralympic Athletics, the visually impaired athlete performs activities, such as sprint, has, as orientation instrument, a rope tether that is tied between the athlete and a leader, known as sighted guide that points out the actions that should be taken during the track. In the literature conducted to date, there is not scientific publication related to the athlete visual impaired performance on the use of the rope tether into sprint modality and its usability. Although the rope tether allows the activity execution, the sighted guide presence reflects on the athlete's performance, since the mistakes committed by the guide can injure or even disqualify the athlete on competitions. In this paper, the rope tether usability in relation to the visually impaired athlete and the sighted guide is covered. This experiment was conducted by the analysis of 273 samples of official sprinting videos extracted from Paralympic site. The paper's main goal is identifying problems related to the rope tether use during paralympic sprint. It was identified serious failures related to the rope tether use. False start, break down, disqualifying was aggregated totalizing, on average, 57, 09% of serious failures in three sprinting events (100m, 200m and 400m). Esses resultados impactam na criação de novas tecnologias aplicadas ao esporte paraolímpico, minimizando as ações do guia.